Compte argues that sociology should be based on the methodology of the natural sciences and that it would result in 'invariable laws' within society. The patterns that are observed whether they are in nature or in society can all be explained the same way through finding facts that cause them. According to Compte sociology is therefore a science as like science it consists of gathering information about the social world, analysing data and making conclusions on the social laws which govern society. Durkheim although a positivist criticised Compte, he argued that in sociology could only be considered a natural science if it was studied objectively and so social facts were studied as objects. Though this is often difficult as social facts tend to be unnoticeable therefore sociologists must avoid being bias when developing their theories and concepts.
It was a term coined by one of the founding fathers of classical sociology Comte and it involves: “Knowledge that is disciplined, empirical and scientific free from religious or political bias.” On the other hand as society and the early science of sociology evolved a different approach was seen by many to be the way forward. This anti-positivist thinking or interpretist approach believes that society cannot be studied as a science; this methodological anti-positivism proposed the theory of the human in society as an individual and thus research be directed to human cultural norms, values and symbols. The interpretist will take a more subjective approach were as the positivist tries to look at society objectively. Let us now look to compare and contrast positivism with an interpretist approach. Positivists are of the opinion that society can be studied using a scientific approach comparable to the way scientists study the natural world.
Sociology examines how our behavior individually and in groups is influenced by social processes and what that means. In fact once you start seeing things with a sociological perspective – things will never be the same. It’s knowing how and why we do what we do that engages us with the world around us and makes us more effective agents for social change. However, sociologist C. Wright Mills describes sociology as “the intersection of biography and history?” A lot of you may wonder what he mean: well from my studying and perspectives; The reason why he say sociology is the interception of biography and history is because, Biography: happens to individuals and History: happens to society. For example, every
Social policy is government principles and legislation designed to deal with social problems like crime and poverty. However opinions from sociologists all vary on this matter because some believe that their research should feed into policy; whereas others are in the opinion that sociologists must find out what is happening, why it is happening and what can be done to solve the problem. There are many things that influence sociology on policy for example globalisation and policy preferences of the government at the time. This essay is going to examine the relationship between sociology and social policy. Positivists and functionalists such as Durkheim and Comte view sociology as a science and they argue that sociology can discover all the social problems.
Society is like the nature, an objective factual reality; it is a "real" thing made up of social facts that exists "out there", independently of individuals. They seek to discover the causes of patterns they observe to produce general statements or scientific laws, like natural scientists do. In order to do this, they use objective quantitative research, meaning value-free and number based data. They make up a hypothesis and test it in systematic and controlled ways, like in experiments. So these methods produce reliable data that can be checked by other researchers, which is one of the most important features in science.
Vushaj SOC 150-05 September 6, 2013 Writing assignment #1 Sociology is the study of society and social interaction. Sociology takes a broad approach at helping one understand how people interact in different societies. On the contrary, other social sciences look deeper into specific areas of society, rather than society as a whole. Classical sociologists Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, each contributed to the scientific study of sociology. Marx believed that societies grew and changed due to struggles of different social classes.
Methods of micro sociology include symbolic interactionism, phenomenology and ethnomethodology. However there is opposing argument as macro sociologists think the opposite as although they concentrate on individuals as well they also look at families and other larger groups in society in which an individual is part of. Weber a social action theorist believes people hold meanings about the world and consciously act on the basis of meaning. He saw behaviour in terms of the meanings people action to actions and classified them into four types. Instrumentally rational action is when a goal is not desirable but an induvidual still works out the best way to reach it.
Another difference with the two is that sociology uses survey and correlational research mostly but social psychology understands the importance of experimental research as well (Myers, 2010). However, clinical psychology relies heavily on experimental research just like social psychology in order to verify hypotheses. Than general psychology or known as personality psychology is different than social psychology because they focus on the individual instead of the impact that people have on each other. In order to sum everything up sociology would be on the left for social psychology because of the focus on social interactions, clinical psychology would be to the right of social psychology because of their use of experimental research, and personality psychology would be in the main of social psychology because both want an understanding of people as
Social facts, positivists argue, can be observed, measured, and quantified, (hence why positivism is also known as Quantitative) producing data/statistics which, when analysed can reveal correlations, patterns of behaviour, causes (cause and effect), and ultimately, laws of human behaviour. By creating data through research methods such as structured interviews, questionnaires, and social surveys using a deductive approach to the relationship between theory and results, the emphasis is placed on the testing of theories. They also believe that it is important to examine society as a whole, using a large scale (macro) methodology, and consider social facts (institutions, beliefs, norms &values of society) to have an external existence to a person, but having an influence on behaviour, and the way a person acts. Therefore, it could be said that human beings essentially are directed by social facts, by norms, values and beliefs, and are part of wider society. Durkheim’s study of suicide being an example of this, he gathered data on suicide (social fact) and members of different religious beliefs (set), by analysis of such data and found a link between Protestantism and a high rate of suicide.
New intellectuals believed that human beings could solve their social problems. Their were 4 key theorists that laid the foundation for contemporary sociological thought. Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology. He wanted to establish sociology as a science, free of religious arguments. He was convinced that using scientific principles, sociologists could solve problems such as poverty, crime and war.